Griffey slept in clubhouse during chance to hit

Seattle Mariners star Ken Griffey Jr. missed a chance to enter an unspecified game last week as a pinch hitter because he was asleep in the clubhouse, according to a report from the Tacoma News Tribune.

When pressed following the game as to why he had not used the left-handed slugger as a pinch hitter, Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu was evasive.

But according to two unnamed younger Seattle players who are both fond of Griffey, the future Hall of Famer had fallen asleep.

He was asleep in the clubhouse," one player told the Tribune. "He'd gone back about the fifth inning to get a jacket and didn't come back. I went back in about the seventh inning -- and he was in his chair, sound asleep."

The second player, who is reported to know Griffey better, claims the scuffling slugger has had difficulty sleeping at home.

"He doesn't sleep well at night, he's away from his family, he's comfortable in the clubhouse," he told the Tribune. "They could have awakened him."